The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 134 The Educ»ti*nal Screen Being the Combined Judgments of a National Committee on Cxirrent Theatrical Films (A) Discriminating Adults (Y) Youth (C) Children Date of mailing on weekly service is shown on each film. All Women Have Secrets (Virginia Dale, Jo- seph Allen) (Para) Thoroughly mediocre and absurd little drama about struggles of student scientist and student wife married on slight income. False, shallow imitation of college and marital life. Plot feeble, acting poor. Utterly valueless production. 2-27-40 (A) & (Y) Stupid (C) No Balalaika (Eddy, Ilona Massey)(MGM) Lavish musical comedy melodrama. Masquerading prince falls in love with lovely communist. Action in court, countryside, opera house, war, cabarets. Lightsome mixture of overwhelming ingredients but fine cast, sprightly humor, and ideal musical-comedy heroine. 2-13-40 (A) & (Y) Entertaining (C) If not too exciting Beware Spooks (Joe E. Brown, Mary Carlisle) (Colum) Futile attempt at mystery-detective farce. Hero cop, fired from force for bungling, chases criminal through crazy obstacles, slap- stick spook-house, to grim killing. Brown's usual antics and labored comedy so unfunny as to be pitiful. 2-20-40 (A) Stupid (Y) & (C) No Black Friday (KarlofF, Lugosi) (Universal) An> other pseudo-scientific horror thriller told in flash-back. Surgeon's operation to save friend by brain-graft results in dual personality, now a confused professor, now a ruthless killer. Hokum personality changes. Pretentious, but ridiculous stuff. 3-5-40 (A) Depends on taste (Y) No value (C) No Blondie on a Budget (Singleton, Lake) (Co- lumbia) Efforts of Blondie and spouse to squeeze fur coat and fishing-club fee out of budget complicated by "another woman," add- ing a note of mild sophistication to the usual comico-silly antics. Fifth in Blondie series. 3-5-40 (A) Hardly (Y) & (C) Mostly amusing Geronimo (Foster, Ralph Morgan) (Para) U. S. forces under cold, rigid General, attempt to quell famous Apache Geronimo who, aided by contemptible politician, is ravaging the west. Indian thriller in new dress. Brutal tortures, killings, inconsistencies, impossibilities, horror and tension. Valueless "history." 2-20-40 (A) Harrowing (Y) & (C) No Grapes of Wrath (Fonda, Darwell, Carradine) (Fox) Powerful novel masterfully filmed. Staunch sharecropper family driven from land, lured to California by promises of work, find only unem- ployment, exploitation by labor racketeers, vio- lence, injustice, starvation. Vivid social docu- ment. Splendidly acted, photographed. 3-5-40 (A) Somber and superb (Y) Mature (C) No He Married His Wife (Nancy Kelly, McCrea) (Fox) Nauseating, senseless, humorless marital comedy in excessively bad taste. Horse-race- mad ex-husband tries to marry off divorced wife to save himself alimony. Situation ab- surd, dialogue daffy, acting forced, characters overdrawn. 3-5-40 (A) Stupid (Y) No (C) No His Girl Friday (Russell, Grant, Bellamy) (Co- lumbia) "Front Page" hilariously screened. Editor tries by fair means or foul to keep his ex- wife star reporter from marrying again. "Hot story" and crooked politics figure strongly. Riot- ous, fast-moving action. Snappy, witty dialogue. Clever, complex situations. Diverting. 2-20-40 (A) Entertaining (Y) Very exciting (C) No Honeymoon Deferred (Lowe, Lindsay) (Uni- versal) Usual sophisticated murder-mystery. Man-about-town insurance investigator and his few-hours bride get involved in murders and solve mystery despite police. Usual hus- iDand-wife cheerful but blase' banter. More or less entertaining. 2-27-40 (A) Depends on taste (Y) Passable (C) No Little Old New York (Faye, MacMurray, Greene) (Fox) Old New York waterfront as spectacular background for frankly glamorized, melodramat- ic tale of Fulton's struggle to build steamboat. Emphasis on romance, costumes, settings. Ele- mentary but pleasing humor supplied by feminine tavern keeper and beau. 2-13-40 (A) & (Y) Entertaining (C) Possibly Marines Fly High (Dix. Morris, Lucille Ball) (RKO) Formerplantation supervisor of heroine's ranch, leader of revolutionaries and bandits, sets trap for Marines stationed to protect country population. Dix and Morris as hard-boiled Ma- rines provide trite rivalry and horseplay. Thor^ oughly mediocre and rich in absurdities. 2-20-40 (A) Poor (Y) & (C) No Married and in Love (Alan Marshall, Barbara Read, Helen Vinson) (RKO) Unpretentious, quit* convincing little tale. Happily-married hero, aided to success by loyal devotion of fine little wife, nearly succumbs to lure of a former love. Situation cleverly averted by wife who makes i husband realize his real love is for her. 3-5-40 I (A) Fairly good (Y) Mature (C) No ! i My Son is Guilty (Cabot, Jacqueline Wells) I (Columbia) Ordinary, morbid, utterly valueless crime film. Worthless ex-convict son exploits policeman-father's confidence, gets police radio job and aids criminals. Finally father, repre- senting law and justice, traps and kills son. Acting mediocre. 2-13-40 (A) Poor (Y) & (C) No | Nick Carter, Master Detective (Walter Pidgeon, Rita Johnson) (MGM) Anothersabotagefilm,with hero Nick Carter and his comic ubiquitous fol- lower as detectives, working on mysterious dis- appearance of important airplane plans. Usual thrill stuff. Airplane crashes, battle between air- plane and cruiser and Hollywood tricks. 2-13-40 (A) Depends on taste (Y) No value (C) No Night of Nights, The (O'Brien, Olympe Brad- na)(Para> Trite plot slightly redeemed by con- vincing acting, good direction, and effective photography. Successful playwright and actor noes on rocks after wife's disappearance. Com- ing of daughter 20 years later reawakens him. Some pleasant moments. 3-5-40 (A) & (Y) Fair (C) No Northwest Passage (Tracy, Young) (Metro) Part of famous novel, powerfully filmed. Rogers' Rangers' epic thrust through wilderness, evad- ing enemies, pushing north to destroy ruthless Indian tribe, and finally home again. Grim, blood-curdling warfare and gruesome scenes in ranks. Tracy fine as dauntless Rogers. 2-27-40 (A) Fine of kind (Y) Very strong (C) No Castle on the Hudson (Garfield, Sheridan. O'- Brien) (Warner) Another prison drama with no new angles. Arrogant, tough, rebellious little gangster imprisoned for crime. Later per- mitted leave by warden on his honor to see dying girl. Usual gang killings and prison breaks. Decidedly unedifying. 3-5-40 (A) Depends on taste (Y) Valueless (C) No Honeymoon's Over, The (Stuart Erwin, Marjorie Weaver) (Fox) Familiar theme of young couple trying to keep up with the Joneses. Parasitic friends, irresistible salesman and their own lack of common sense plunge elemental hero and his wife into debt and out of job -— with artificial happy ending! (A) Hardly (Y) Perhaps (C) No Rasputin (Harry Baur) (French-Eng. titles) Fine interpretation of Rasputin, the lusty peasant prophet and healer who came to in- fluence Royal family after curing invalid heir. Church nobles and army plot against him and finally kill him. Somber, dramatic. engrossing. 2-13-40 (A) Good of kind (Y) & (C) No Charlie Chan in City in Darkness (Toler, Lynn Ban) (Fox) European war situation with Paris in blackout is setting for very inferior Chan mystery. Story is loose-jointed, crazily complex and largely incoherent, leaving audience still baffled at end. Sound and fury from Harold Huber far less funny than intended. 2-13-40 (A) & (Y) Poor (C) No House of Seven Gables, The (Lindsay, Vincent Price) (Univ.) Famous Hawthorne novel exquis- itely filmed. Avaricious son of old New England family, to get estate has brother convicted of father's murder. Melodramatic plot well done by fine cast, Lindsay outstanding. Fine dramatic and artistic unity. Superb photography. 3-5-40 (A) & (Y) Excellent (C> Mature Reno (Dix. Gail Patrick. Anita Louise) (RKO) Mediocre yarn of small dramatic worth offered as history. Reno lawyer, when silver-mining died out. started the easy divorce game, got caught himself, turns gambler, saves own daughter from divorce-court-aotion and is freed himself, etc., etc. 2-20-40 (A) Feeble (Y) & (C) No Cisco Kid and the Lady, The (Romero, Weav- er) (Fox) Fairly amusing "good old western" adventures of outlaw, cross between Don Juan and Robin Hood. He tricks partner, makes love to his gal, is caught, escapes and dodges law. Gay, fast-moving, entirely fictional, with ethics badly jumbled. 2-20-40 (A) Depends on taste (Y) Doubtful (C) No Ireland's Border Line (Irish cast) (Wm. Alex- ander) Farce comedy. Two identical bags, one with stolen jewels and one belonging to cough medicine salesman, cause complications. Acting, continuity, photography frequently amateurish but vivid, human and amusing throughout. Good humored rivalry between North & South. 2-13-40 (A) Depends on taste (Y) Perhaps (C) No Shop Around the Corner,The (Sullivan. Stewart) (Metro) Absorbing, human, delightful drama, in quiet dialogue of intertwined fates of blustering Budapest shopowner, his trusted first clerk cor- responding with unknown girl, kind, timid father of family, ingratiating clerk, pert, naive sales- girl. Outstanding character portrayals. 2-27-40 (A) £ (Y) Excellent (C) If it interests City of Chance (Lynn Bari, C. Aubrey Smith, Donald Woods) (Fox) Hectic melodrama. Girl reporter goes to gambling resort for story, falls in love with owner, cleans up at tables, turns over resort to D. A., and departs with money and owner. More or less trashy excitement. 2-27-40 (A) Mediocre (Y) Objectionable (C) No Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President (Sothern, Gargan, Stone) (Metro) Filming of Damon Runyon tale, symbolic, saccharine, tire- some. Joe and Ethel, cloddish caricatures of "supposed" average Americans, visit President to defend their mailman whose sentimental story is told in flash-back form. 2-27-40 (A) & (Y) Doubtful value (C) No Swiss Family Robinson (Thomas Mitchell. Edna Best) (RKO) Famous novel of family shipwrecked on remote, uninhabited island. Creative home- making, despite obstacles, guided and inspired by father. But conflict between happy father and sorrowful mother adds a heavy note. Good acting by capable cast. 2-27-40 (A) & (Y) Interesting (C) Unless too mature FaUl Hour, The (Karloff. Grant Withers) (Monogram) Murder mystery drama. Karloff good as Mr. Wong, oriental detective who solves murders and gem smugglings aided by hard- boiled, bulldozing offensive police captain, and ubiquitous girl reporter. Plot weak, action thin, suspense poorly sustained. 2-20-40 (A) Mediocre (Y) Valueless (C) No Light That Failed, The (Colman, Huston, Lu- ptno) Kipling's famous sombre novel notably filmed. Arrogant young artist, wounded at bloody Sudan, wins money and fame before his sight goes. Hazy in continuity, plot and character rela- tionships, but excellent cast, fine photography and settings. Ida Lupino superb. 2-13-40 (A) Fine of kind (Y) & (C) No Vigil in the Night (Lombard, Aherne) (RKO) Somber, absorbing drama. English nurse sacrifices position for inefficient sister who finally atones. Heroine's courageous devotion helps bring much- needed hospital. Expert, finely pictorial photog- raphy. Fine background music. Excellent act- ing by cast. I^ombard outstanding. 2-20-40 (A) Fine of kind (Y) Too somber (C) No